This invention relates, in general to fabrication of optical devices and, more particularly, to manufacturing and fabrication of optical waveguides.
This application is related to U.S. Patent having U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,184 issued on Nov. 23, 1993, and copending patent application having Ser. No. 08/000,865 titled Modular Optical Waveguide and Method of Making filed on Jan. 5, 1993, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
At present, optical waveguides are made in a variety of methods, such as photolithography, diffusion, ion implantation, or a combination of any of the above. Generally, these methods used for manufacturing conventional waveguides are inflexible, complex, inefficient, and generally are not suitable for high volume manufacturing. As use of optical waveguides and optical interconnects increases, the need for a fabrication method and structure that allows flexibility, efficiency, and cost effective manufacturing will be required.
Additionally, use of the present methods for manufacturing waveguides and optical interconnects do not provide sufficient flexibility for manufacturing multiple waveguides or modular waveguides, thereby making waveguides difficult to assemble and to assimilate into standard electronics circuits and electronic components. As a result of these inflexible conventional methods, waveguides are severely limited, thereby limiting optical integration into standard electronic components, into standard electronic equipment, and into standard electronic circuits, thus limiting introduction and use of waveguides in high volume applications.
Further, conventional or present methods for manufacturing waveguides generally require individual processing that is achieved manually. Manual processing injects many problems into manufacturing, such as being extremely labor intensive and costly. Additionally, manual manufacturing of waveguides does not enable high volume manufacture, thus not enabling waveguides to be produced or used in high volume applications. Moreover, since present design of waveguides does not readily lend itself to automated manufacturing, waveguide design further limits implementation of waveguides into high volume applications, thus causing limited use of waveguides and electronic products.
It can be readily seen that conventional methods for designing and manufacturing of waveguides have severe limitations. Also, it is evident that conventional methods for manufacturing waveguides are not only ineffective, expensive, and complex, but also do not lend themselves to high volume manufacturing. Waveguides manufactured with the present methods are not designed modularity so as to facilitate flexibility in design, thus further removing them from high volume manufacturing and incorporation into standard electronic components. Therefore, an article and method for manufacturing waveguides that is modular in design, flexible in design, and is amenable to high volume manufacturing would be highly desirable.